Mindo Cloud Forest tour
Many were off to the airport later or the next morning, but we booked the 11 day package so we had another day to tour on our own. I had
booked a day tour with Alex Lomax and his driver again. This time we went to
the Mindo Cloud Forest. Mindo Cloud Forest and Birding Paradise is located on
the slopes of the Andes between 2925 and 8200 feet. We were running short on time and didn't actually make it all the way to Mindo.
We stopped at one of the
most beautiful volcanoes in Ecuador, Pululahua. We continued to El Pahuma an
orchid farm, where we saw the most beautiful orchids in the forest and did a hike
to a waterfall. Then we went to Bellavista a private reserve where we saw a ton
of hummingbirds. Some really unusual ones for us. We did a short hike here to see birds,
but the weather did not cooperate. It poured rain and made for a miserable
hike. Soaking wet we stopped for a nice lunch and watched the birds.
On the way back to Quito
we stopped at the Intiñan museum. This
is the “real” equator and was very interesting with experiments showing the
water going down the drain clockwise versus counterclockwise in the different hemispheres,
balancing an egg and other fun experiments. I couldn’t do it, but Greg got a
certificate for being able to balance the egg on the head of a nail.
Pululahua Crater
Crater Restaurant
market at the crater
back in the car -views along the way....dog and doghouse on the roof
farms on the hillside
the start of the trail to the waterfalls
me on the trail
the trail through the orchid gardens
back in the car to Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve
lodge in Bellavista
Masked Flowerpiercer
it finally sat on my finger
Greg's turn
inside the lodge
the hike before it started raining....
walking back after the hike
the trail was kind of like this....
Restaurant where we had lunch
Booted Raquet Tail
Sparkling Violetear
restaurant from below
Violet Tailed Sylph
Yellow-breasted Brushfinch
ride to Intinan museum (real equator)
Intinan Museum
Amazon Display
shrunken head
Guinea Pigs
watching which way the sink drains on the equator and in each hemisphere
I never could balance the egg on the head of a nail
Greg balancing the egg
ok, now he's getting serious....
he did it!!!
walking the equator line - not that easy
we are each standing in a different hemisphere
Ecuador makes "Panama" hats
certificate Greg got for balancing the egg
"passport" stamp for the equator
driver William and guide Alex - just super guys
That evening we walked back to the same restaurant Hasta la Vuelta Señor to try those huge cheese empanadas. YUM! We got one of the huge cheese empanadas and another platter of various smaller empanadas. Since their desserts weren’t that good last time we stopped on the way back to the hotel at a place called Crepes and Waffles and had really fantastic desserts. Not a lot of English spoken here, but even with our limited Spanish we managed.
arriving back at the JW Marriott
No comments:
Post a Comment